Washington tornado most powerful to hit Illinois in November since 1885

Two tornadoes roared through Tazewell County on Sunday, including the most powerful twister to hit the state in November since 1885.

The tornado that ravaged Washington has been designated EF-4 by the National Weather Service in Lincoln, said meteorologist Chris Miller. It was the most powerful tornado to hit the state in November since 1885, he said.

A damage estimate team found damage consistent with wind speeds between 170 and 190 mph, landing it within the EF-4 category of 165 to 200 mph wind speeds. The Enhanced F-scale goes from EF-0, with three-second wind gusts from 65 to 85 mph, to EF-5, with wind speeds greater than 200 mph.

"Many of the houses in that subdivisions were completely destroyed with debris right on the property," Miller said. "That damage is consistent with an EF-4."

Pekin's tornado was an EF-2, with wind speeds between 110 and 135 mph.

The tornado that hit Washington started about 2½ miles southeast of East Peoria, Miller said, and stayed on the ground for 46.2 miles, Miller said. The half-mile-wide twister struck East Peoria, Sunnyland and Washington and moved into Woodford County, west of Roanoke toward Minonk, before dissipating two miles east of Long Point, in Livingston County.

"It's rare to have a long-track tornado like that," Miller said.

The tornado that hit Pekin started in southern Peoria County and crossed the Illinois River into the northern end of Pekin. It's width was 100 yards and traveled at approximately 60 mph, dissipating at Parkway Drive, Miller said.

Pekin has in the past been virtually immune to devastating tornadoes. The May 10, 2003, tornado that leveled homes on the east side of South Pekin and damaged Groveland and Morton also damaged a small area in rural Pekin — but not the town itself. Those are the only recorded tornadoes that came close to Pekin in the records of the National Weather Service since 1950.

In his 25 years with the weather service, Miller said he's seen only one tornado comparable to Sunday's, which was the one that destroyed the Parsons Co. building in Roanoke nine years ago. That tornado also received an EF-4 categorization.

"It would rank as one of the highest in my 25 years," Miller said.

Based off the magnitude of the tornado that struck Washington, Miller said the known injury reports are lower than most recorded during an EF-4. Nationally, EF-4 tornadoes only occur 2 percent of the time, but are responsible for 75 percent of tornado-related deaths, said Miller.

All of the towns had several minutes of warning before the tornadoes hit — be it through weather radio, sirens, television or apps on cellphones that report weather alerts. The media was warned of the possibility of destructive storms three to four days in advance, said Miller.

"To have a tornado of this magnitude go through a populated area, people were heeding the warnings," Miller said.